Abstract

Identity, memory and emotional ties: how to escape from loneliness when inherent pieces of our experience slip away forever?

What remains of emotional and social relationships when you start to lose your memory and entire pieces of your own history slip away? Is it possible to avoid suddenly finding yourself alone, unable not only to look after yourself but also to recognize your loved ones? Starting from the example of dependent elderly people but also with those who fall ill at an early stage with Alzheimer's or senile dementia, this report seeks to analyze the grammar of affective relationships, the importance of mutual trust, but also and perhaps above all, the need to rethink ties when a person changes and when, even in the eyes of their loved ones, they not only stops being reliable but even seems to become a stranger.